20.4 km (12.7 miles)
Toughness 4/10
A long but gentle Hampshire walk through the woods, pastures and downland that surround Selborne (about which Gilbert White wrote his famous Natural History). After lunch in Selborne you ascend a zig-zag path, constructed by the man himself, and head across Selborne Common for Chawton, once the home of Jane Austen. Last admission to her house 4pm closes 5. Cost: 15:50
Trains: From Waterloo, get the 9:24 (Clapham Jct 9:31) to Alton arriving10:37. Return xx:15 and 44
Lunch: An early option after 2.5 miles is the Three Horseshoes in East Worldham (01420 83211) open from 12.00.
The recommended stops are in Selborne after 6 miles. The Selborne Arms (tel 01420 511247) serves food from 12pm to 3pm. There is also a tea shop in the Gilbert White Museum, serving lunches to 2 and accessible without paying admission.
The museum itself costs £16:50 (online booking only) and is open till 4:30.
Tea: The Greyfriar pub in Chawton (01420 83841) will be open. Allow about 50 minutes to reach Alton station.
Other options exist in Alton itself. Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee in the High Street are both open till 5pm on Sunday, and the nearby Swan Hotel (tel 01420 8377)
Directions: here. T=2.10
2 comments:
Correction: train time at Clapham Junction is 9:31 (9:42 is Surbiton)
N=6 a day w=mostlly-sunny-a-bit-hot-but-not-too-bad. 2 raced off, a fair degree of cohesion amongst the others. Plenty butterflies, all colours, take your pick. Plenty flowers. Big trees., nice countryside, nice sunshine, even. Could probably have done with being a degree cooler but hey!
At Selborne, some picnicked in the churchyard, some may have gone in the tea room and one hurtled towards the pub in search of liquid sustenance..
And that’s the last he saw of the others.
After a brief quench, maybe too brief, he headed back in the direction of the tearoom to check. Nobody. Drew the line at returning all the way to the churchyard, reckoning if they were still there, they’d catch him up. They didn’t. Maybe Gilbert White came down in his zigzag spaceship and whisked them away to planet Zog.
A lesser mortal might have been fwightened but not Mr Tiger, who resolved to tackle the 30 zigs and zags (equivalent to 15 zigzags) all by himself. This gruelling feat accomplished, he continued across the common, through Farringdon (with its ancient yew) and on to Chawton for another well-deserved ‘rest’. What a hero!
Then on to catch the 17:44.
Post a Comment